You are here

Commissioning India’s tallest MET tower is not an easy task. India recently erected its tallest lattice MET tower that stretches 150 metre (m) high and features an array of latest technologies, including 40C anemometers, 200P wind vanes, 110S temperature sensors, a BP20 barometric pressure sensor, and a SymphoniePRO data logger with iPackGPS for bankable, secure and reliable data collection. Installation of this tower will help the Indian wind industry grow, enabling developers to measure at increased hub-heights and, in turn, better predict energy output at a potential wind site.

This tower has been erected for one of India’s leading independent power producers in renewable energy. The decision to commission the tower was spurred by the growing proliferation of taller turbines.

For this project, RK Systems overcame a number of design challenges to erect the 150 m tower. To keep the tower stable, secure and under the 250-kg weight limit, RK Systems’ Director, Arun Mehra, and his team introduced a design that used square tubes – a first in India.

According to Mehra: “It is well known that square tubes are stronger than an ‘L’ angle or channel.” The tower was then subjected to the Indian Government’s current wind load software, which is 10 per cent more demanding than the preceding software. The tower cleared the test to 55 m per second.

Mehra added, “In response to the increase in hub heights, and in order to perform accurate resource assessment campaigns that reduce uncertainty, it has become necessary to capture data at these heights.”